On Wednesday night the Clippers successfully exploited their individual mismatches to the tune of 120 points, and for the first half of tonight’s game it’s more of the same. Chris Kaman wins the ambidextrous influenced battle with David Lee early, scoring multiple times on Lee in single coverage with a variety of pretty post moves. Eric Gordon plays pinball and draws contact and gets to the foul line. Al Thornton also uses his quickness and strength advantages in his mismatch to get to the rim. For 24 minutes, everything clicks for the Clippers.

The struggles as of late to slow down perimeter oriented teams have been evident, but the first half performance tonight is a clinic on how to force a one-dimensional team away from their strength. In previous games, the Clipper defenders have shown the tendency to be zombie-like in their closeouts; they have their arms raised, but they plod along aimlessly, making them susceptible to good shooting. Tonight though, we see crisp closeouts, particularly from Al Thornton, who all but sprints at his man to ensure no clean threes are allowed. The Clippers succeed wonderfully in the first half – the Knicks go for 4 for 9 from deep in the first half, with the latter number being the most important. Remember, this is the same Knicks unit that jacked up 47 (!) threes against Chicago and averaged 28 attempts a game coming into tonight. At least for 24 minutes, the Clippers lock in on chasing shooters off the line, and it works.

The positive work on both ends results in a 16 point halftime lead for the Clippers. With the MSG crowd completely out of the game, and the Knicks showing no life on either end, the Clippers appeared poised to cruise to another big win. Then something happened: The Knicks started playing as if every possession were the last of the game. Three Clippers turnovers in the first 4 possessions of the second half creaked open the door just enough to allow some light to shine through for the Knicks, and they charged back into the game bolstered by a renewed defensive intensity and an overall superior effort to that of their counterparts. The pnce easy entry passes to Kaman on the block were all but taken away by swarming perimeter play and active post defense. When Kaman did eventually get the ball on the post, he was immediately doubled on every touch. The Knicks clearly intended to let someone other than Kaman (who was methodically destroying single coverage early on) beat them in the second half. After the Knicks fronted, doubled, sandwiched and generally confused Kaman, the Clippers offense fell apart at the seams. Poor spacing, lazy passing, and no off-ball movement turned the Clippers offense into mush.

With the offense struggling to get clean looks, the Clippers defense began to show its own deficiencies. The previously mentioned early third quarter turnovers allowed transition opportunities for New York, which sparked their offensive outburst. Non-coincidentally, the main culprits were the type of players the Clippers typically struggle to deal with: a stretch four (Gallinari) and an active, offensive rebounding big man (Lee). The pair combined for an incredible 23 of the 30 Knicks third quarter points and were they key cogs in the Knicks comeback. The Clippers inability to defend simple Duhon-Lee pick and rolls hurt them more than anything. We’ve previously dissected how the Clippers big men defend pick and rolls, and they’ve been better as of late, but tonight’s blame can mostly be pinned on the guards, Eric Gordon and Baron Davis. Time and time again the two allowed themselves to get taken out by even the most obvious of picks. Duhon strolled into the paint on multiple occasions late with Baron or Gordon nowhere to be found. All things told, Gordon probably played his worst stretch of the season tonight in the second half on both sides of the ball.

While the end of game sequence should not have ever mattered considering the Clippers hot start, it did. Baron’s 28 foot heave to give the Clippers the lead with 36 seconds left was about as desperate of an attempt you’ll see all year. After that lucky three, the Knicks were the beneficiary of some luck of their own in the form of a blind tip in from David Lee that rolled around the rim and fell through. We’ll have video of the final possession once it becomes available, but the look Rasual Butler gets down 2 with the clock winding down is about as good as it gets. It may *feel* wrong that Gordon, Kaman or even Baron didn’t get the last shot, but consider the circumstances: You’re on the road with absolutely zero momentum, and one of your better perimeter shooters gets a mismatch and a wide open look to end the game. Nine times out of ten, Butler hits that shot.

Instead, he misses, and the Clippers get to spend their trip to Philadelphia wondering how they managed to lose this game.

“Nine times out of ten, Butler hits that shot.”
Wouldn’t go that far, he’s been a huge let down from the 39% three point shooter he was last season. Even his career average of 36% is much more respectable that the abysmal 29% he’s giving us……

http://deleted kenji

i agree. 9 times out of 10? One of the better perimeter shooters? C’mon. you can’t call him that and give him a 90% rating when you look at what he’s done, or should i say what he hasn’t done, all season.

people need to stop giving butler the benefit of the doubt based on how he WAS pervious seasons. all that matter is that THIS season he is pure crap, and has shown why he was dumped from the hornets.

http://www.clipperblog.com D.J. Foster

Maybe 9 times out of ten is a little much, but most shooters wide open as Butler was make that shot at an extremely high rate.

Even if he’s been awful (and he has) he’s still one of the better perimeter shooters on the team.

http://deleted kenji

how many times this season has butler been wide open failed to hit a shot? the easier question would be, how many times has he actually made the shot?

sure, maybe he has a history of being an above average perimeter shooter, but based on his performance this year, why put him in a position in the inbounds play to be a top option to for the last shot? i’m sure a lot of clipper fans would have felt better having a novak take the shot than butler. even cold off the bench novak has a better chance of knocking down a 3 than rasual.

i just can’t stand that guy being in the game at all. maybe i’m being too hard on him. but maybe its justified based on his performance.

http://www.firedunleavy.com FireDunleavy .com

Rickey Davis was 40.5 and 39.7 the years before he came to the Clippers, well I think Dunleavy said after the game Barron was supposed to shoot it.

It wasn’t that bad a play though cus he was wide open. Better than some of the other last second plays I’ve seen. The game shouldn’t have even come down ot the last second though.

Beard The Curse

There has to be a way to package him and get in a more reliable player on the wing.

What will get little mention about last night is how AT kept us in the game with some great plays while we were gagging.

SamMays

The problem with the Clippers is the same one that often rears its hear. We play offense like our feet are in mud… Baron walks it up. Dribbles as he watches players move slowly through their picks. The first pass often isn’t made until there are less than 10 seconds left on the shot clock… This allows us to exploit only the first option on our plays to get a decent shot. If it fails, we end up having the “create” a shot, like Baron’s luck heave and lots of other shots that weren’t so lucky… The Knicks, last night, moved the ball and their feet in the second half. Most of the time they we so crisp that if option one didn’t work, they had plenty of time for option 2 and 3.

We’re lucky to get one decent look.. We are so easy to stop when a defense decides to play us tough.

Dunleavy must go… Hopefully Baron along with him.

rmb

Great game inspite of loss. Knicks deserved to win because they wanted it real bad. Maybe it’s a statement game to attract King James attention. If it’s between Clippers vs. Knicks in his plans, then Knicks showcased their talent pretty well.

http://deleted kenji

except for the fact that pretty much everyone on the knicks will be dismissed for lebron so that they can have the money to pay him.

los831

what do Cuttino Mobley, Zach Randolph, and Quietin Richardson have in common?

their lives were saved after being traded out of the clips

craig

I don’t think that the likes of say, Larry Brown, would put up with the kind of play the Clips displayed in the second half! It’s been Dumb loony’s legacy since I can remember.

neil

how can anyone say that was a good game for the Clippers..The Knicks suck…. The Clippers are NOT wellcoached at all. Just look at the second half of almost every game..the team stands around and watches..That is on the coaching staff.Note how the Knicks moved the ball well in the second half and they SUCK..and missing Hughes….